Take Charge of Your Work Life Balance With These 3 (Science Based) Skills

We need a fundamentally different way of looking at work life balance – not just dividing our lives into ‘work and ‘life’. These work life balance tips get you thinking deeply.

We did a google search on work life balance and there were more than 9,79,00,000 results.

Turns out there are 1729 hits for books on this topic on Amazon itself!

And when IÂ turned to social media IÂ got tons of responses.

Indeed itâs a theme thatâs on every working professionalâs mind.

However, the concept of work life balance has evolved just as much as the concept of work; into a new reality.

Today, no more do you look at 9 to 5 as work hours. The earlier distinction between ‘my timeÂ and ‘company time’Â seems to have vanished.

As Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Airlines puts it brilliantly, âSome of my best ideas have come from engaging my children in conversations about work.â

Also, today itâs all about choices. On your way to work, you have the choice to listen to music, attend to work calls or do nothing at all.

In light of this new reality, if we still try the balancing act the old way, itâs outright dangerous.

So whatâs our new need? In fact, there are two of them:

#1 Feeling in Control

We need to feel in control of our time and life. That feeling of the whole worldâs weight falling on your delicate shoulders comes when you donât know where your time just went by.

#2 Energy Matching

The changing work environments require that rather than matching time, we match our energy levels with tasks at hand. As rightly put by the authors ofÂ The Power of Full Engagement

âEnergy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.â

With this clarity of concept, the question is, what are some concrete skills you need?

For us, at Santulan, science is the driving force. That is the reason why we bring you not a set of tips but an elaborate system of skills that will help you cater to these new needs of the new reality.

Skill No. 1 â A Science Based EDS

Not all hours are created equal in a day. There are times when our energy is at the highest and then there are times when we need to recharge. We all have some kind of an every day schedule. But to make it energy efficient, try the science based Every Day Schedule (EDS) which has five parts.

Part 1: Morning Routine

Whether one is a morning person or a night owl, we all start our day at some point. While there is no ideal morning routine, research shows there are a few items we need to include to start our morning on the right foot.

A morning routine occupying the first 30-120 minutes after waking up, helps you arrive at your peak performing hours in the right mindset.

Additionally, you also get the benefit of the Endowment Effect, according to which if youâve already started the day by moving your life forward, youâve established positive momentum, and are more likely to keep doing positive things.

And not to forget that sense of control that you get over your day! A nurturing morning routine gives you something to hold onto and a sense of normalcy to root yourself.

Now coming to crafting your morning routine.

Research shows having any/all/some of these items helps start our morning on the right foot.

Drinking water and eating a nourishing breakfast

Exercising for around 30 minutes

Reading a book

Meditating

Having a light chat with your partner

And in equal measure itâs important to avoid rushing through your morning and checking your phone. Itâs basically that time, before things get into motion.

Part 2: Protected Hours

âShallow work stops you from getting fired â but deep work is what gets you promoted.â Cal Newport

Answering calls, responding to emails and attending meetings is all work, but not results oriented work or work that will take you to the next level.

The second part of your EDS is what your morning routine leads you to. Itâs a Â pre-decided amount of time dedicated to the most important work, away from any other distractions.
Imagine working on a project in an environment where your phone is ringing off the hook, colleagues are passing by to say hi and you can see a pile of emails rising by the hour.

Would you be able to concentrate on your work to the best of your capabilities?

Most likely not!

All these distractions will definitely impact your output.

Setting protected hours for yourself, essentially eliminates these distractions in order to enrich your performance to the maximum.Â This is the time whenÂ you push yourself to limits and get some real work done as against all busy work like checking emails or answering calls.

In fact, research shows that we tend to be most productive 2.5 to 4 hours after we wake up. Hence it would be fair to reason out that protected hours scheduled in this time window are likely to be most productive.Â The truth of the matter comes down to the fact that we may find ourselves busy all the time but for how much of that time, are we really doing work that gives us guaranteed results?

Real work is a fully results oriented work while pseudo or busy work tends to make you feel like you are working without actually producing much results. Thus rather than thinking of protected hours in terms of amount of time, it would be beneficial to think of them in the context of result oriented tasks done in a distraction-free environment.

Part 3: Regroup

Oh how wonderful it would be if we could work infinitely and get all the work done at one stretch, right? No matter how we dislike it, it cannot be denied that we are humans who cannot work tirelessly with the same efficiency all throughout.

These efficiency dips are not the end of the world. All you gotta do is take a break â do something that lets you gather your thoughts without being too involved or too detached from the task at hand.Â Some ideas for regrouping are:

Eating mindfully

Going for a short walk outside

Decluttering a drawer

The big idea here is that donât keep working because you donât want to take a break or you want to just finish it off. Rather value âregroupingâ as anÂ essential part of your day. On some days you might need more than one regrouping. Just acknowledge it and use it to guide yourself back.

Part 4: Busy Work

This is that time when you sort out the work that you think keeps you busy without challenging your intellectual capacity too much. This may include some repetitive chores

Filling in the already available data in an excel

Responding to mails

Scheduling meetings, phone calls

You get the idea!

Try to fit it into the afternoon window. Most of us experience an energy slump in the afternoon. So this time is best used forÂ tasks that take up more time than energy.

Part 5: Recharge

And last but definitely not the least, donât forget to recharge. Allowing time for recharge is as important as any other aspect of the EDS. After all, it is vital that we fuel the body that works up a sweat.

âItâs important not to be so immersed in your work that there isnât anything else. Taking care of your body and your mindset, carving out time to be with your family, doing things that recharge you â these all make you more productive in the end.â

âÂ Frits Van Paasschen, Former CEO, Starwood Hotels

Wait a second before you put that TV on to recharge. There is a science to it. And that is our skill #2.

Skill #2: Scheduling free time

Give this a thought â a day when you have no tasks to plan, no targets to achieve, a holiday or a Sunday if you will.

What would you like to do on such a day?

Most of us are likely to say âJust watch some TV, catch up on all my social media, maybe some lazing around in the bed.â Yes, itâs natural to feel that way after a hectic workweek.

But hereâs some food for thought.

All thatÂ TV you watchedÂ is probably just making you feel a little less upbeat.

The truth is we do easy things like watching TV or idling around the house because thatâs what they are â easy! They donât require much effort but the problem is they donât make us truly happy.

âResearchers found that the majority of the subjects they studied were not able to identify anything they had done recently to try to increase their happiness or life satisfaction.â

â Â 100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It

âActive leisureâ is truly enjoyable but it requires more initial effort. In a study of teenagers it was found that they were 2.5 times more likely to experience elevated enjoyment when engaged in a hobby than when watching TV and three times more likely when playing a sport.

The key is to overcome that inertia because as humans we are naturally drawn to things that are easy.

However, even if things may seem difficult initially, you can be sure that they will add value to your life. For example, getting up early to go cycling, stepping out of the house to attend a cooking class or getting the car out to go to the sports ground.

All said and done, you may ask what good is planning even a no-work day?

Where is the spontaneity?

Well, research strongly points to the fact that people whoÂ schedule their free timeÂ are likely to lead a better quality life than those who donât.Â There is a strong co-relation between managing your free time and the quality of your life.

Â According to American Psychological Association the least effective ways of spending your free time are gambling, shopping, smoking, drinking, mindless eating, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and watching TV or movies for more than two hours.

But why do we still do these activities despite them not making us truly happy?

In the words of Harvard Researcher, Daniel Gilbert, Â âWeâre terrible at accurately remembering how things made us feel in the past, so we make bad choices regarding the future.âÂ

Here are some suggestions from the American Psychological Association:

Spending time with friends (Research shows that increasing your social time by 1.7 hours raises average happiness by 2%.)

Exercising or playing sports

Praying or attending a religious service

Reading

Listening to music

Getting a massage

Going outside for a walk

Meditating or doing yoga

Spending time with a creative hobby.Â

Mastering existing skills (For example, if youâre a good cook, then learning a new dish will help you feel rejuvenated.)

Skill #3: Rituals

The Oxford Dictionary defines a ritual as a series of actions or type of behavior regularly and invariably followed by someone.

Harvard ProfessorÂ Francesca GinoÂ has researched extensively on the power of rituals. According to Gino, rituals can help in four ways:

Enjoy happy moment better

Manage stressful situations

Stop procrastinating

Increase your productivity

Here are 4 different types of rituals that you need to develop for yourself:

R1# Savoring Rituals

This could be something that helps you bring more joy to activities that may seem mundane. What it essentially does is help you enjoy the moment you are in.

Vishal, for example, loves to have his protein-filled breakfast of eggs after his workout.

Now he doesnât eat those eggs just any how! He has developed a very specific ritual that he finds enjoyable â he boils them only for 8 minutes, not a minute more not a minute less, then cuts them in slices, just the way he likes it and then eats them only in his favorite bowl, relishing the taste fully.

He believes the whole process and not just eating eggs, helps him immensely start his morning on a good note.

Other examples of savoring rituals are:

Shutting off your phoneÂ every timeÂ you enter a party, signaling to yourself that now youâre in party mode!

Every eveningÂ sharing the dayâs happenings with a loved one.

Spending half an hourÂ every morningÂ with your pet.

We all know there are things which make us feel happy. But the big idea here is to be AWARE of your savoring rituals so that you can use them more often.

R2# Stress Rituals

What do you do when you feel stressed?

Curl up in the bed and hope for it to pass?

Or eat whatever comes your way?

Or vent your irritation at whoever crosses your path?

Try developing a stress ritual for such times.

According to Francesca Gino having a set of rituals that you follow during tough times can help you get back that sense of CONTROL. It can help reduce the stress associated with the task or the situation.

It can be anything from:

Expressive writing to take it all out of your system

Going to a place that calms you down like a park or a coffee shop

Speaking with your spouse about the stressor to get a perspective

R3# Peak Performance Rituals

There are times when you need the best of you. For example, before an important presentation, while crunching numbers that will change the course of your organization, an important sales pitch or any other high stakes situation.

Unfortunately, there could be times when youâre not in that âframe of mind.â To enable peak performance at such times, rituals can help by making you feel calmer and more confident.

Some of our favorite peak performance rituals are:

Listening to a pre-designed playlist:Â We have a set of 12 songs that we listen to before we face an audience.

Dancing:Â Grooving to Siyaâs Cheap Thrills, not only cheaply excites us but also readies us for peak performance.

Power posing: Expanding your body for even as little as 2 minutes can help you generate the power hormone called testosterone and make you feel more confident from within. Watch this video to understand power posing.

R4# Anti-Procrastination Rituals

If we can overcome that innate desire to procrastinate, a lot of our problems related work life balance will resolve on their own.

Rituals can help overcome procrastination.

According to Charles Duhigg, author ofÂ The Power of Habit, our goal should be to develop a ritual which gets our mood going because procrastination usually happens because of bad mood or ânot feeling up to it.â

What are some anti-procrastination rituals that you can develop? Here are some examples from our life:

Reading for one hour on general topics before writing

Laying out yoga attire the night before

Breaking down a long to-do list into small tasks before starting

One of our friends, Nitin developed this anti-procrastination ritual which has helped him maintain a more disciplined lifestyle.

He realized a while back that once he started surfing social media on the phone he would lose track of time and would end up procrastinating important to-doâs. This would usually happen early morning when he had to get ready and leave for work.

He then developed a system whereby he would set an alarm of 10 minutes right after he woke up, a tone which he was not particularly fond of. After those 10 minutes come what may, he would go for a bath.

It took him some time but now that this habit has been in place, he hardly needs an alarm to remind him.

Whoa! That looks like a lot of skills but once you make them a part of your routine, youâll enjoy the benefits.

Letâs put everything together.

Sum Up

Remember the new reality of work life balance. Itâs more about having a sense of control over your time and matching your energy levels with the task at hand.

âEach week, I examine the categories of my life â father, husband, CEO, self â and identify the specific actions that help me feel successful and fulfilled in these capacities.Â This weekly ritual helps me feel like Iâm doing everything in my power to address my needs and the needs of those around me.Â This is important because I canât lose sight of the business agenda, and weâve all seen or read about what it looks like when you lose sight of your familyâs needs.âÂ

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